Skew pulley elevator



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 28, 1966 Feb. 27, 1968 Filed March 28, 1966M. H. AMES SKEW PULLEY ELEVATOR 3 Sheets-Shem Feb. 27, 1968 M. H. AMES3,370,801

Y ELEVATOR Filed March 28, 1966 s Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR. WZKdZ/M/ZAMZSAria/V645 United States Patent 3,370,801 SKEW PULLEY ELEVATOR Malcolm H.Ames, Littlerock, Calif assignor to Panacolor, Inc., Hollywood, Calif.,21 corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 28, 1966, Set. N 537,818 Claims.(Cl. 24255.01)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This patent describes a novel pulley elevatorapparatus comprising a stationary bed of parallel powered shafts eachcontaining thereon a plurality of pulleys, in a plane parallel to saidstationary bed, a movable bed of parallel channel members eachcontaining thereon a plurality of pulleys, said bed being movable withrespect to said stationary bed, said pulleys on said movable bed beingrotatable around an independently resiliently disposed mounting havingan axis generally perpendicular to the movable bed, and means for movingsaid movable bed with respect to said stationary bed.

This invention pertains to a novel skew pulley elevator particularlyuseful for accumulating and releasing photographic and other film duringwinding, unwinding, processing, packaging, and other manufacturing anddeveloping operations.

An elevator is normally a device for accumulating or releasing film asneeded while some part of a continuously running machine is stationary.Normally the elevator comprises a series of pulleys on a stationaryshaft and another series of pulleys on a shaft, either above or belowthe fixed one, that moves in a venical path with respect to the fixedpulley. The film in such an elevator follows a helical path and alimitation on the usefulness of such an elevator is that the fixed andmoveable shaft cannot be brought close together without producingexcessive stress on the film. Excessive stress must be avoided to holdfilm loss and damage to a minimum. This problem reduces the range ofelevator capacity in any given space since the minimum storage capacityis much greater than it would be if the fil'm strands were parallelinstead of helical.

Designs have also been developed and elevators have been used where thepulleys on one of the shafts are larger and set at an angle whichpermits the film strands to be parallel. The skew angle is fixed in thisconstruction and all pulleys on any shaft move together. While thisconstruction increases the range of the elevator, it is expensive toconstruct and maintain.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention toprovide a skew pulley elevator having several unique features whichincrease the elevator capacity for any given space without the need forstructures which are expensive both initially and in operation.

iMore particularly it is an object of the present invention to provide askew pulley elevator wherein the skew pulleys are independently mountedso that they are capableof swiveling to the best postion required by thefilm path whereby stress on the film is reduced.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a skew pulleyelevator wherein the skew pulleys are freely rotatable and independentlyresiliently mounted.

These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent fromthe more detailed description which follows read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the novel skew pulley elevator of thepresent invention.

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the skew pulley elevator of this invention.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged top view of one of the elevator pulleys utilizedin the present invention and shows its relation to the driven pulleys.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged side view of one of the pulley elevators showingits attachment to the elevator structure itself.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 shows a top view of the stationary pulleys and drive mechanismemployed in the present invention.

FIGURE 7 is a schematic drawing of the path of the film as it passesthrough the device of the present invention.

Briefly, the present invention comprises a stationary bed of parallelpowered shafts each containing thereon a plurality of pulleys; in aplane parallel to said station ary bed, a bed of parallel channelsections each containing thereon a plurality of pulleys, said bed beingmoveable with respect to said stationary bed, said pulleys on saidmoveable bed each being rotatable around an independently resilientlydisposed mounting having an axis generally perpendicular to the moveablebed so that each pulley is capable of moving toward or away from saidbed and swiveling around the axis as tension on each pulley dictates,and means for moving said moveable bed with respect to said stationarybed.

Turning to the drawings in greater detail, the stationary bed isindicated generally as 10 and the moveable bed of pulleys as 12. Thestationary bed contains a plurality of drive shafts 14 each containingthereon a plurality of pulleys 16. These shafts are powered by motor 18which turns shaft 29. Shaft 20 is connected by chain 22 to each of theother pulley shafts.

The moveable bed 12 is vertically moveable with respect to bed 10 by theraising and lowering of hoist 24. The main supporting member 26 of hoist24 carries a plurality of parallel channel members 28. To each of thesechannels is connected individually spring mounted pulleys 39. Thesepulleys are so mounted as to be able to freely swivel about pulley shaft31 when mounted in place on channel 28. Thus, the swivel mountingpermits the pulleys 30 to rotate as needed and the springs 32 permit thepulley to move toward and away from the channels 28 depending upon thetension applied to the pulley.

In operation, the film 34 enters the machine at 36 and follows a paththrough the machine generally as shown in FIGURE 7, leaving the machinevia fixed pulley 38. According to this invention the shafts 14 aredriven at a speed somewhat greater than the overall machine speed. Theshafts 14 through friction drive the pulleys 16 which in turn drives thefilm 34, thereby making use of the friction to reduce the film tensionrather than increasing it as has been the case with prior devices. Thespring mounted pulleys 3t maintain contact between film 34 and thepulley itself and between pulleys 16 and the stationary shafts 14 thusinsuring that each driving pulley 16 does its share of the work.

The hoist 24 is normally of the hydraulic type. However, the hoist maybe powered in any conventional manner or operated manually. Normally,the hoist operates in response to some signal from another part of thefilm handling system to indicate that film needs to be stored in theelevator or released by it. This signaling system is already familiar tothose skilled in the art and forms no part of this invention.

As will be immediately apparent to those skilled in the art, the novelpulley elevator of the present invention represents a substantialadvance in the art of film handlin g since by the simple constructionprovided, the problems previously associated with the use of elevatorpulleys having a fixed skew angle have been eliminated. In addition, .itcan be seen that the skew pulley elevator con struction of the presentinvention being provided with independently and swivel mounted pulleyseffectively reduces the tension on the film passing through the machine.In this Way, the loss of film during packaging, processing, and similaroperations because of breakage and tearing is effectively reduced oreliminated. In addition, the novel pulley elevator of my'invention isless costly to construct and maintain.

Accordingly, while the foregoing description of the invention has beenwith particular reference to certain embodiments, it will be understoodthat these embodiments are presented solely for the purpose ofillustration and 'are not intended to be limiting in any way. Rather,the invention is limited solely by the lawful scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. A novel pulley elevator apparatus comprising a stationary bed ofparallel powered shafts each containing thereon 'a plurality of pulleys,in a plane parallel to said stationary bed a moveable bed of parallelsupport members each containing thereon a plurality of pulleys, said bedbeing moveable with respect to said stationary bed, independentlyresiliently disposed mountings on said movable bed having an axisgenerally perpendicular to said movable bed, said pulleys on saidmovable bed being rotatable around said mountings, and means for movingsaid movable bed with respect to said stationary bed.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the means for moving said moveablebed comprises a hoisting mechamsm.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the independently resilientlydisposed mounting comprises a spring.

4. The apparatus of claim '1 wherein said parallel powered shafts aredriven by a motor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the number of pulleys on each shaftof the stationary bed is one greater than the number of pulleys on eachsupport member of the move'able bed. 7

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,490,669 4/1924 Higginson24277.1 1,544,931 7/1925 Patterson 242 55.01 3,233,808 2/ 1-966 Alexeifet a1. 24255.01 X

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

NATHAN L. MINTZ, Assistant Examiner.

